


Rocket Science

by thundercaya



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Breakups, M/M, Past Jefferson/Adams, Prompt Fill, Snapchat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-21
Updated: 2017-02-21
Packaged: 2018-09-26 00:20:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9853427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thundercaya/pseuds/thundercaya
Summary: James Madison helps Thomas Jefferson feel better after his breakup with John Adams. John questions his motivations.





	1. Chapter 1

It wasn’t Thomas Jefferson’s first breakup. It wasn’t even his first time being the one who had been dumped. But it was the first time that it seemed to come out of nowhere. He and his boyfriend John Adams had both entered an essay-writing competition to win a guided tour of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, and when the result had come in on Friday in Thomas’ favor, John hadn’t taken it well. He accused Thomas of not really caring about the trip and only entering with the intent to sabotage John’s chances. Then John had broken up with him.

Now it was Sunday evening and Thomas was lying across his bed, face buried in his arms with a pile of used tissues littering the floor in front of him. He’d been this way most of the weekend, picking at the food his mother left on his dresser, and grateful for his private bathroom which prevented him from having to go out into the rest of the house to perform necessary functions. His mother and various siblings had checked on him a few times, but each time he asked them to leave, they obeyed his wishes.

There was a knock on the door and then it opened slowly. Thomas lifted his head to tell whichever family member that he still didn’t want to talk about it, but he was surprised to find his best friend James Madison peeking into the room instead.

“Thomas?” James greeted cautiously. “Your mother said I could come up. Can I come in?”

Thomas shrugged his shoulders, then dropped his face back into his arms. He heard the door close, then felt James’ weight settle beside him. For a while the room was silent aside from Thomas’ own sniffling.

“How’re you doing?” James asked finally.

“How do you think?” Thomas muttered.

James sighed, then a hand settled into Thomas hair, fingers brushing through slowly. “I’m sorry he did that to you. It’s fucked up.”

“No fucking kidding. I thought he was happy being with me.”

“He was,” James said. “He was lucky to have you. But he’s a petty idiot, and if he’d let you go because you were successful, then he doesn’t deserve that kind of happiness.”

“Well, maybe  _ he _ deserves to be miserable and alone, but why do I have to be, too?” Thomas demanded. His tone was still sour, but his body was relaxing significantly under the continued touch of James’ hand in his hair.

“You won’t be for long, I’ll tell you that much,” James soothed. “You’re a total catch. Someone’ll snatch you up in no time.”

“Yeah?” Thomas scoffed. “Well, where the hell are they? I’m ready any time.”

James huffed out a laugh. “Thomas, you’ve been in your room all weekend. When does anyone have the chance to make a move? Besides, I’m sure they’d rather wait a socially acceptable amount of time. Wouldn’t want to look like a vulture.”

“Vulture, huh? I wouldn’t mind getting eaten right now.”

James’ hand stopped moving suddenly. Thomas didn’t think there was anything wrong with his joke; James certainly made plenty of dirty jokes of his own. Before Thomas could worry about it much more, James started moving his hand again.

“A little patience, Thomas. And even if new romance doesn’t happen right away, you’ve still got your trip to JPL to look forward to. You wanted it. You earned it. You need to enjoy it.”

Thomas lifted his head. “Yeah.” He scrambled into a sitting position and reached for his phone on his nightstand. “I am going to enjoy the hell out of it, and I will fill my Snapchat story with every damn thing there that isn’t classified.”

James chuckled. “I’m sure they’re not gonna show you anything classified.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Thomas dismissed. “The point is, everyone is gonna see how cool my life is and how much better I’m doing than John.” He grabbed a tissue which he used to wipe his face and blow his nose before adding it to the pile on the floor. With his other hand, he opened Snapchat.

“Get in here, James,” he said, throwing an arm around James’ shoulders and pulling him in close for a selfie. He gave a smile so bright that the only hint that he’d just been crying was the redness of his eyes, easily fixed with the right filter. “Come on, smile!”

James flashed the same bared-toothed, furrowed-browed look that he always gave when confronted with a camera, and Thomas snapped a picture. He captioned it “ME AND THE BEST PERSON I HAVE EVER KNOWN IN MY LIFE” and then added it to his story.

“Thank you, James,” Thomas said, giving his friend a squeeze.

James gave a smile that was much warmer than the one he’d managed for the picture. “For what?”

“For everything,” Thomas said. “Encouraging me to to enter that contest. Looking over my essay for me. Coming here today to check on me. Reminding me that it’s not all bad. Thank you so much.”

“You deserve to be successful. And happy. That’s all I want for you.”

Thomas squeezed James again. “Thank you for that, too.”


	2. Chapter 2

James Madison had Snapchat on his phone for years, but he rarely used it. He didn’t care much for pictures and snippets of people partying or playing with filters, and he was even less interested in sharing his own. These past few weeks, however, he’d been in a great number of snaps, all taken by his best friend and the object of his affection, Thomas Jefferson. As much as James hated being on camera, he loved being around Thomas, and if showing the world photographic and video evidence that his breakup wasn’t bringing him down made Thomas feel better about said breakup, then James was willing to suck it up. It meant the world to James that he was the one Thomas turned to for comfort in his time of need, and as they grew closer and closer he minded less and less that there was almost always a phone in his face. The day before Thomas left for California, however, when they shared their first kiss–a first for James period–he was glad that Thomas put the phone down for a bit. He did not object when after the kiss Thomas snapped a selfie and captioned it “tfw your bff is also your new bf.”

The next morning, Friday, Thomas was on his way to the airport to catch his flight, but James had to go to school and act like his lips weren’t still tingling from that first kiss and all the ones that followed. Thomas had made it clear that it could have been a night of several firsts for James, but just like when he’d hesitated at Thomas’ suggestion that oral sex would cheer him up the weekend he’d been dumped, James hadn’t pursued more, not ready yet to take that step.

James was eating lunch in the hallway with James Monroe–grudgingly nicknamed “The Other James”–when John Adams approached.

“Monroe,” he said standing over them, “get lost.”

“I’m eating lunch,” The Other James said.

John stuck his foot between The Other James’ legs and tipped his tray up towards him, spilling his lunch on him. “And now you’re not. Get lost.”

The Other James yelped, then he tossed the mess aside with an indignant huff. “I hope you fucking die,” he said before grabbing his bag and heading off to the restroom to clean himself up.

“What the fuck, Adams?” James demanded, setting aside his own tray and standing. It wasn’t a very intimidating move given that James was the shorter of the two, but at least he was no longer in a position where he could meet the same fate as The Other James.

“Oh that’s what you open with?” John asked. “That’s what I’m here to ask you. What the fuck, Madison? Huh? What the fuck is this?” He pulled out his phone and shoved it in James' face. The screen showed the snap declaring his new relationship with Thomas.

James became flustered enough that he wasn’t trying to be a smart ass when he said; “an iPhone?” Of course he knew John would find out, but he didn’t think it would be so soon.

“No shit, asshole. What the fuck is that picture?”

“Why do you even have that?” James asked. “You’re not friends with him on Snapchat.”

“Alex sent it to me.”

“Alex isn’t friends with him either.”

John gave an annoyed huff. “Gilbert took the screencap and sent it to Alex who sent it to me. That’s not the point.”

“Maybe it should be. It’s pretty creepy, the lengths you’re going to stalk your ex.”

“I didn’t ask them to do that! I actually told Alex to stop, but I’m glad he sent me this one, because now I know what your game was.” John shoved the phone back in his pocket. “You planned the whole thing, didn’t you?” James opened his mouth to protest, but John cut him off. “Don’t bullshit me. I know you told him to enter the competition.”

“Uh, no,” James said. “He told me he was thinking about it, but he didn’t want to upset you. I just told him that if you really loved him, you’d value his success as much as your own and would be thrilled for him if he won, just like he’d be thrilled for you.” A smirk broke out across James’ face. “Of course, I knew he would win. He’s better than you in every possible way. And I knew you wouldn’t take it well, because you’re an asshole. But I didn’t think you were enough of an asshole to break up with him over it. I just figured you’d be salty about it and he’d realize he deserves to be with someone who would be happy for him. But you turned out to be even worse than I thought, so good for you, I guess.”

John stared at him, hands balled into fists, every muscle in his neck visibly tense. “You manipulative little shit,” he breathed out. “I’m gonna tell him.”

James scoffed. “Oh, really? You’re gonna, what? Text him while he’s at JPL? He’s just gonna think you’re trying to ruin his trip. You’ll wait until he comes back? The angry ex making shit up to sabotage the new relationship, big shocker. I was there for him after you hurt him. Who do you think he’s gonna believe? And even if he believes you, I didn’t make you break up with him. That was all you. There’s no situation where you don’t come out looking like an even bigger asshole than you already are, so you might as well drop it.”

John shook his head. “I had no idea you were like this.”

“And neither does anyone else,” James said, crossing his arms, “so they won’t believe you either. Now what was it you said to The Other James? Oh yeah. Get lost.”

“You’re really asking for it,” John said. He glanced down at James’ tray on the floor, then kicked it down the hall before storming off. James waited until John was out of sight before collapsing against the wall and sliding down into a sitting position. He took a few minutes to get his breathing and heart rate back under control, then he pulled out his phone. He pasted on a smile and took a selfie, which he captioned “thinking of you.” After sending it off to Thomas, he put his phone away. He’d buy lunch for The Other James tomorrow.


End file.
